This committee will provide advice to the Corps of Engineers on a range of scientific, engineering, and water resources planning issues through periodic reports. Through its reports, the committee will provide advice to the Corps on agency practices that are valid or that should be revised, and help the Corps anticipate and prepare for emerging water resources planning challenges. Meetings between this committee and the Corps will allow for the identification of important and emerging water resources planning and policy issues of high priority to the agency and upon which they are seeking external advice. In addition to speaking with the Corps of Engineers, the committee often will engage invited speakers from other federal agencies, U.S. congressional staff, state governments, the private sector, and relevant stakeholders. The committee also may serve as a forum for occasional workshops on thematic issues, such as flood risk management, sustainable river system planning, hydroecosystem restoration, or implications to water management of climate change and variability.
This committee's first report (2011) identified emerging national water resources challenges and their implications for Corps of Engineers strategies and programs.

The committee's second report (2012) addressed the future of Corps of Engineers water resources infrastructure.

The committee’s third report will focus on reducing flood risks from coastal storm surges. The committee will address the following questions:

1. What coastal risk-reduction strategies have been used along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts to reduce impacts of coastal flooding associated with storm surges, and what design standards or levels of protection have been used? To what extent have these many strategies and levels of protection proven effective in terms of economic return, protection of life safety, and minimizing environmental effects?

2. What are the regional and national implications of expanding the extent and levels of coastal storm surge protection? Examples might include operations and maintenance costs, sediment availability, and regional-scale sediment dynamics.

3. How might risk-related principles contribute to the development of design standards for coastal risk-reduction projects? How might risk-related principles increase the ability of coastal regions and communities to prepare for coastal storms and surge, and adjust to changing coastal dynamics, such as prospects of sea level rise?

4. What general principles might be used to guide future investments in U.S. coastal risk reduction?

Statements of task are determined through discussions between the committee and the Corps, and are subject to approval of the Academies' Governing Board Executive Committee (GBEC).